


JA. 50. N

by thenafics



Series: Metal Minds [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood: Lost Days, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Gen, I just wrote this for back story for the next part, really self indulgent, so Talia put his soul into a robot body, what if Jason's body couldn't be resurrected, which is even more self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 14:53:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15342252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenafics/pseuds/thenafics
Summary: Even the powers of a Lazarus pit are not enough to repair Jason's broken body, so Talia finds another way to bring her beloved's second son back from the grave.





	JA. 50. N

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write a fic where Jason is an android of some sort. This story is really just mainly background for an upcoming JayTim piece, so expect a second part to the series.

       Talia knows logically that there is no good reason for her to be playing at Dr. Frankenstein with the corpse of her beloved’s second son. The cold part of her mind screams in outrage at the unnecessary risk she takes in acquiring the body. Talia judiciously ignores that part of her conscience and continues to go about quietly supervising the transport of the cold storage container. The boy’s body is damaged far beyond what a Lazarus pit would be able to fix, even if she could successfully re anchor the correct soul into the body. Luckily, both Luthor and the All Caste owe her some personal favors she is more than willing to call in to bring her beloved’s son back from beyond the veil.

       Luthor asks far too many questions about why exactly Talia wants and or needs a hyper realistic android built to look like an aged up copy of a boy with stormy eyes and an outrageous tangle of dark, curly hair. She answers almost none of them and is able to get away with the android (left empty of all programming on her request) and a slight headaches induced by the incessant chattering of a megalomaniac trying to pry answers out of her. The most he got was the first name of the boy, a fact she discovers was put to use in the form of a brand over the synthetic skin of the shell’s chest that reads “JA.50.N.” Talia chalks it up to a combination of petty revenge for dull conversation and Luthor’s strange sense of humor.

       Talia fills the hydraulic fluid reserves of the shell with water from the Lazarus pit and carefully replaces the encased battery with the preserved heart removed from Jason’s chest that Ducra assures her will be enough to permanently tether a soul into the vessel. After what seems like hours of chanting and etching arcane symbols into a robotic chassis, Talia sees Jason’s eyes open. For a moment they are the perfect steel and storm color Luthor copied from photographs. Then, Lazarus green flashes through them and Jason throws his head back with an electronic screech that grates against Talia’s ears and echoes in her chest. Some cosmic force wills her to match his screech with a cry of “It’s alive!” but Talia is too strong of will and aware of where that particular cliche leads to give in.

       Jason takes to his new body surprisingly well. Talia attributes it partly to her own subtle manipulation of the magical rage coursing through his body and partly to an acquired tendency on the part of the boy to avoid looking gift horses in the mouth in favor of getting ready for the horse to bite him. His sense of humor appears to have survived death, immersion in the pit, and the relentless training Talia uses to delay his somewhat more murderous tendencies. Talia finds herself charmed by his brash attitude and sarcasm in a way that makes her feel more maternal than she would ever admit to anyone else.

       Luthor does of course demand to see his creation. He praises the realistic programming of the A.I inside while Jason insults him relentlessly and has what appears to be a small moment of panic when clicking the hidden power button at the base of Jason’s skull does nothing to shut off the stream of literarily inspired barbs (mostly focused on his baldness). Talia laughs and explains that Jason can’t be turned off because there’s no power source and his A.I is so realistic because it’s minus the artificial part of artificial intelligence. Luthor playfully rants at her about how he’s given her one of the most realistic human analogs ever produced and she’s just turned it into a haunted doll. Talia can see the gleam of some idea in his eyes when he starts to truly consider the ramifications of a soulbound robot.

       Jason goes charging off to be the Red Hood. He finds his place in Gotham and falls in and out of step with Batman constantly. He waits and, when it’s time, Talia sends Damian off to Gotham feeling better with his decision knowing that she has a pawn in place already for her son’s protection if needs must.


End file.
